Skin Care Survival Kit

This Saturday I restocked on skin care necessities. I think I have successfully weaned myself off of Mary Kay products...well, most of Mary Kay products. I still have memories of my long emptied bottles of the Microderm Abrasion duo. It's called the Miracle set for a reason, lol.  Last month I tried using African Black soap (the real stuff, the ugly brownish stuff) and Vitamin E capsules with ginseng. This didn't necessarily do wonders for me, but I enjoyed the fresh clean felling on my face. The Black soap didn't  dry my skin out and the vitamin E absorbed into my skin without leaving my face looking shiny or feeling greasy.


In this trip to the beauty store I picked up another bottle of Vitamin E, but with Aloe and a much wanted tub of Shea butter (oh, yeah!) So far I really like the Vitamin E+ Aloe. It smells good, it fells cool on my face and it's very calming to painful blemishes. I've used Shea butter before to lighten my dark knees, but now I'm testing in on my  face. I'm only rubbing a thin layer on my chin for the next few weeks to see if it doesn't fade my scars and even out my tone. My t-zone might be a better place to test the effectiveness of the Shea butter but, I'm afraid to do that right now.

I am so happy I found a place that sells almonds in bulk here in South bay! I've driven by this market called Sprouts farmer's market a few times, but I finally went in this weekend. I'm glad I did! It reminds me of the Nugget at home. I love the atmosphere in these places. I love the quality of the produce and the SALES. Let me tell you- I checked out this place Saturday, last week, and spotted my almonds at $5.99 per/lb.   At home, at WinCo, I paid about $3.49 per/lb for locally grown almonds. I thought, "I'll make the sacrifice, I really need these."  When I went back to buy them this past Friday they were on sale for $3.99! I was beyond happy.


A note to all: Don't be afraid to shop the specialty markets. If you shop the sales you will fare better than you would at the super market or grocery store. 


Now that I have my almond supply checked off of my skin care list, I know almonds alone won't do. I really need to get more water in my diet.  When I say water I mean foods that have a high water content and natural cleansing abilities. Fruits and vegetables have this. I can't wait for Melons and grapes to some into season- BTW Sprouts have large honeydew for $1.99 each! I so love that place. Anyhoo, when I get my skin care arsenal fully loaded I'll share.

Florin Rd. Nugget. Sacramento, CA

The last thing I'm excited about is a natural coffee facial scrub. I'm going to pick it up from a new friend of mine who is developing a pantry bath and beauty skin care line. I've already sampled her sugar scrub and it was great. I can't wait to see how this coffee scrub will work for me.

Here's What's in My Kit so Far:

Black Soap

Vitamin E +Aloe

Shea Butter

Almonds

Bottled Water

    Coffee Facial Exfoliant

 

     

 

Wash-N-Go (Stick to the Plan)

This past week had been so crazy that I had no time to wash and prep my hair for the upcoming week. I knew I couldn't go another day with dirty, dry hair, so I did a wash and go style. Although this is relatively quick and easy (as easy as it gets for kinky hair)  I don't like dealing with the aftermath of dry compacted hair.


In the past, after washing and conditioning, I would apply my curl activator to small sections of loose hair then brush that section until it smoothed out and curled into a ringlet. After my entire head was done I would go back over it, taking individual curls and adding setting lotion to them. I did that to "freeze" the curl to avoid too much shrinkage and the compacted Afro. 

Sept 2010
Second day wash and go of the past. Not the business!

This time around my wash and go was unbelievable! I loved it. It was perfectly curly (for me). I wore it in a side pony and my damp hair was hanging to the base of my neck. By the end of the day it dried into a oh-so-soft curly poof. On the second day it was still super soft and light. Today is the third day, but my ends are starting to dry out.


Here's the thing, I have a goal in mind. I'm not going to change my strategy because I had success with this wash and go. Yes, this style took half the time it normally takes to wash and prep my hair. Yes, it was a nice change from the same old thing, but now is not the time to do something new. Sticking to proven methods (for me, braided styles or twists) will keep me on track to the hair I want. So, with that, I'm glad I took a picture, because I might not see that Wash-N-Go for a while. 

My wash method and how I did the Wash-N-Go

My hair is usually already twisted when I go to wash. If it's in some other style I'll put it back into chunky twists.

• My hair looks like this before and after I get out of the shower.  When I prep for wash I add shampoo the sections and  use a wide tooth comb to detangle and pre-wash, then twist.

• When I get into the shower the first thing I do is wash my hair. I shampoo 2-3 times. On the last shampoo I do not rinse right away. I add conditioner to my hair with the shampoo still in it. 

• First I turn off the the water. Then I take each twist, untwist it, add conditioner, finger comb and re twist. I use clips to keep them separated. When that is done, I'll put on a plastic cap. 

• Now it's time to get to the actual showering. I save things like shaving, and using my body scrub for wash days so that my conditioner can have time to work. When all is done I rinse my hair thoroughly with cool water to seal the conditioner in. I don't do cold water, I just can't take it.

• After towel drying, I'll spray oil on my scalp. I take a section, untwist it and apply my Motions Clear hairdressing cream to the roots and down the hair midway. Going to the ends, I'll add the ECO styler gel, smoothing the tips until they curl then work my way up. I use a wide comb if I need to, but I usually finger comb and do a lot of stretching and smoothing. I'm always careful to remove shedding hair, carefully untangling, and cutting knots. 

(Note: I only cut in the middle of the knot to release the hair vs. ripping the hair, breaking it or letting it snap off in the comb. I also do everything I can to get the knot as small as possible before cutting it.)

Out of habit, I always re twist my sections after adding product. On Sunday this entire process took me about 1hr and 15min.

This was at the end of Sunday. My hair was super soft and moisturized. It shrunk up, but not nearly as much as it has in the past. When I took the poof out I still had curl definition in the middle.

This is today, the third day. It isn't bad, but it's starting to dry out. Time to twist it up.

Journey to Date

June 2010
This was a mile stone for me. For several months
I was wearing my hair in braided styles (without added weave)
with a Afro puff attachment. In picture my hair was now
as big or bigger than attachment and it looked better.
I was very happy.

July 2010
First blow out and heat application in 8 months or more

Aug 2010



Sept 2010
This was the beginning of a downward spiral for my hair.
I just moved back to LA and the difference in weather was
quickly taking a toll on my hair. I needed to find new products
and create new maintenance routines. Unfortunately I wasn't
motivated to do any of that too quickly and my hair reached a bad
place before I did something.  My hair looked like it was in shock,
it looked gnarled and dry, if you can imagine that. I desperately
needed moisture.  

Jan 2011

This was rock bottom for my little strands.

For Christmas I tried blowing my hair out

and pressing it using a blow dryer that

wasn't hot enough and a worn out pressing comb...bad, bad

 idea. My hair looked like it was in shock;

it looked gnarled and dry. 

Jan 2011
In my first journey I was using
old school curl activator products like S-curl. They did the job,
but they were sticky and smelly. I felt, surely, the Black hair care
market has progressed since the 80's and there has to be something
 that appeals to today's Naturals. I went on a mission to find products
specifically for Black, natural  hair that moisturized and smelled good.
I tried Motions Salon Herbals and Motions Motions Marula Natural
Therapy hair and scalp oil. The Solon Herbals hydrated 
 my hair instantaneously, though it didn't work out because I had 
to use so much of it and it had a lot of oil. The tube only 
lasted two washes, and at $6 or $7 that was not going to be cost 
effective. Lastly,it has paraffin in it and I didn't want that in my hair.

Jan 2011
This was my first twist out in my attempts to rescue my hair
using only the two products above.



Feb 2011
To help motivate me and to get ideas I started searching
through the natural community on YouTube. That's when I
discovered KimmayTube and Nikkimae2003. I learned about
protective styling. I didn't know it as this before, but in my
first journey, while going without heat I was wearing my hair in braided
 styles(without added weave) to give my hair a rest. I only twisted 
my hair after washing as a means to curly hair the next day (twist out). Since
I'm not at the place to get my hair braided like before, I tried
what other Naturals are doing, twists. This was my first
attempt at styling my twists. My goal is to maintain neat
twists from wash day to wash day.



Another early attempt at styling twist. I'm getting better at washing
my hair on the same day every week. I believe by this time I had found a
product trio that worked for me. Lots of you-tubers were raving
about ECO styler olive oil gel so I tried it. I ended up with
Motions Marula Natural Therapy hair and scalp oil and  Motions Weightless 
Clear Hairdressing. I put the oil on my scalp, the weightless
hairdressing on my roots and the gel on my ends. If I deviate from this
trio it would be to try something like Kimmaytube's conditioner
side note: You can see how loose my twists are in the  back nape, but
are much tighter toward the front. My hair in the back is much softer
with a looser curl pattern and its difficult to keep the hair twisted
  



March 2011
My twists are looking better and staying longer



March 2011
I'm really happy wit my twists now.

March 2011
I had never had an Afro like this before. I bought myself a pick and
had fun. I'll only fro my hair if I'm planning on washing on the
same day. I don't want to go to sleep on loose dirty hair only for it to
dry out and tangle.

March 2011
 When I wash I start by sectioning my hair making twists
using shampoo to give my hair a lot of slip to help detangling. 
This is how it looks when I get out of the shower. I begin
adding product and making neat twists at this point. I've been using 
Dove Moisture Therapy shampoo and conditioner for several years now, 
but I want to move into sulfate free products.

April 12, 2011
5day twist out. I untwisted my hair before my wash day and since
I don't like sleeping on loose hair I had to do something with it

I decided to try a Bantu Knot twist out. My hair already was
due for a wash and had a lot of product in it so I just wet it to make
it pliable and made the knots.

Ummm...right...that didn't work. My hair was still very wet after
being in the knots over night. This style works best on blow dried hair.
Here's what it should look like.

Starting Point

I've been relaxer free for 7 years. I have what some may call 4b/4c hair with a "quark screw" curl pattern. It is very thick with at least two different textures. I'm currently focused on growing my hair to my shoulders in its shrunken state and treating my acne prone skin. My skin is so temperamental and problematic. I tried so many things on my skin (commercial products,home remedies, and Mary Kay, a European facial. I'm trying to find the key to clear predicable skin. Right now I'm experimenting with chemical free products and eventually care from the inside out with the foods I eat. 


Struggles I'm addressing with my hair and myself are sticking to a regular maintenance schedule, creating a regiment that works the best with my hair and finding ways to prevent my tight curls from knotting together at the ends resulting in snapping/ breaking hair or cutting knots. See Kimmaytube's Hair Basics, and Maintenance  videos on the importance of maintaining a schedule and taking care of those ends.
  

Journey Beyond: On to What's Next

My mom used to tell me, "Laree, you have plantation hair". I thought that was sad and funny at the same time. As difficult as my hair was to keep on my head and to manage, I was convinced that it was special and was beautiful. 
I had my last relaxer 7 years ago. Like every natural I've been through a lot of ups and downs and some self discovery with my hair. In 2010 I was fed up with the hair charade. I was tired of weaves; tired of pressing and flat ironing every week.  I didn't want anymore burns behind my ears and  tattered ends. Most of all, I was tired of forcing my kinky hair to conform to being bone straight. I was amazed with my hair when it was soaking wet, it had the prettiest curl formation. I thought, "If only I could get my hair to stay like this when it dries" (vs. drying into steel wool that would break the strongest comb and matting to my head. As my mom said- Plantation hair) from April to August 2010 I achieved my goal of maintaining moisture and defining my curls . As a bonus my hair grew past my shoulders.
So, why am I blogging now? Glad you asked. I want to break the barriers my hair has faced and go beyond the conceptions I've had about myself and my hair. My goal now is to grow my hair to my shoulders when it is in its shrunken state. I'm not so much concerned about how long it will be when in is straightened because straight hair is not my goal, but I guess it would be at bra strap level when straight. To see info on my hair type and current length see my post, Starting Point.
I have two YouTube heroes, Mae @ Nikkimae2003 and especially Kim Love @ Kimmaytube. I've never entertained the thought that my hair can grow to a length like waist level! My discovery hasn't been confined to my hair. I'be been more concerned with my over all wellness. I'm simultaneously journeying to chemical free, sustainable, locally produced and DIY hair products, body products, foods and whatever else I may discover.I'm not an Eco fanatic, but I do have a lot of piratical thoughts and feelings about this. Maybe I'll lay it out in another post.
If maybe you're like me, a natural wondering what's next with her hair, I invite you to join me on my journey. 


With love,
-Laree